Category Archives: white peacock butterfly

Nose landing

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There is always one particiular butterfly species that becomes the highlight of my trip to The Butterfly Estates in Downtown Fort Myers. Today was no exception. For a very brief moment, a white peacock landed on my nose before flying to a nearby leaf. Yep, Sweetbutterfly Bliss moment once again. Today was the day I wish someone was with me to capture that special moment.

I love the pattern of the white peacock and the bright color antennal clubs. This butterfly is among the easiest to photograph, in my opinion, as it is not skittish when you come close and it basks with its wings open more times than not.

I recently added its host plant, frogfruit, to the garden late last year. It can be seen year round in Florida and has a wingspan of 35-60 mm.

I hope it will begin its life cycle in our garden soon. I have witnessed it in the garden once.

White peacock

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The white peacock is among the Nymphalidae family. Its host plants include the wild petunia, southern frogfruit, herb-of-grace, Carolina false vervain and Turkey-tangle frogfruit. This butterfly gains its name from the small black spots on the hindwings, resembling a peacock’s eyespot.

Again, this beauty was admired during our visit to The Butterfly Estates, which is located in the Downtown Fort Myers River District. Their 3,600 square foot glass butterfly conservatory is a butterfly lover’s dream and amazing place to gain inspiration, or just sit in the tranquil space while watching numerous species flutter around. We were so excited this white peacock decided to hang out right by the bridge letting us take numerous photographs.

This butterfly has been spotted once in our garden. Now I need to add some of its host plants, so it becomes a frequent visitor because its beauty is incredible.

I have read that they are smaller, as well as darker during the “wet” summer months, and become paler during the drier winter months.

These butterflies are known to fly close to the ground, and lay a single green egg on its host plant, or nearby on the ground, which might make it very difficult to spot. The egg will hatch three to 10 days later and the chrysalis, green, will stay in the final stage for up to 14 days. I find it interesting that this butterfly can live up to four months.

A new butterfly

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A new visitor has made its way to our butterfly garden, a white peacock butterfly. The wingspan is 2 to 2 3/4 inches.

The life cycle ranges anywhere from six to 20 days.

This butterfly’s host plant is water hyssop and frogfruit. The eggs can take up to 14 days to hatch and are a pale yellow in color.

This beauty enjoys basking in the sun with its wings wide open, which is exactly what this one was doing on a variety of plants in the garden.

This butterfly gets its name from the large “eye spots” on the wings that resemble peacock feathers.

Once it was soaking up the sun it was not bothered by me inching a little closer to capture its beauty. I sure hope it becomes a regular.